'We heard a crying': California resident rescues baby from under four feet of debris after mudslide

A man caught up in the California mudslide has told how he rescued a two-year-old girl trapped under four feet of debris.

Berkeley Johnson and wife Karen escaped onto the roof of their home in Montecito as mud and debris rapidly swamped the building.

But after the flooding had subsided, they heard a baby crying and climbed down from the roof to begin searching.

Mr Johnson told the Santa Barbara Independent newspaper that the pair joined a fireman to dig the toddler out, before scooping mud out of her mouth.

In an emotional interview, he said: “We heard a little baby crying and we dug down and found a little baby. We don’t know where it came from.

“We got it out, got the mud out of its mouth. I’m hoping it’s okay. They took it right to the hospital.”

"Had we not gone over there, I don't think that kid would have [survived]," he added.

Mr Johnson’s own home was “wiped out” in the mudslide. “This was an hour of rain, and the house was gone.”

More than a dozen people are missing and at least 17 are known to have died after mudslides destroyed homes in Santa Barbara County.

The drenching storm that triggered the disaster has cleared out, giving way to sunny skies, as hundreds of searchers carefully comb the hazardous, debris-strewn landscape.

The deluge destroyed 100 houses and damaged 300 others, Santa Barbara County authorities said. Eight commercial properties were destroyed and 20 damaged.

Some 500 firefighters and other rescue workers were searching debris spread across a wide area of Montecito, a wealthy area of about 9,000 people northwest of Los Angeles that is home to celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Rob Lowe and Ellen DeGeneres.

Helicopters were used to hoist more than 50 people to safety from roofs, where they scrambled to escape the mud or because debris had blocked roads and left them stranded.

At one point, a Coast Guard helicopter rescued a family of five and their two dogs. Video shot from the hovering chopper showed a house surrounded by muck and debris as a mother, muddy from the waist down, handed her infant to two rescuers on the roof and then got help onto it. She and her newborn were hoisted to safety, followed by the rest of the family.

People in Montecito had counted themselves lucky last month after the biggest wildfire in California history spared the town. But it was the fire that led to the mudslide, by burning away vegetation.

Only an estimated 10 to 15% of residents fled when ordered and much of the damage occurred where evacuations were voluntary.

The flow was so powerful it swept several homes off their foundations, crushed others and wrapped cars around trees.